I wonder if anyone actually reads this... I will add some diet information just for future reference:

Morning- Kimchi- A large handful in a bowl with several large glugs of olive oilLunch- 3 avocados+5 bananas.Snack- Bananas+ peanut butterEvening- mixed salad+ nuts+ olive oil based dressing. Tempeh with mixed fried veg (lots of coconut oil).+Lots of beer1-3 times a week I will prepare a giant bowl of rice and beans, cover it in chilli sauce and oil and not do anything until it is finished.

I'm reading it, and I'm applauding your use of coconut oil. Ain't it great? I love it, especially since it's the one oil out there that helps balance the adrenals. That's important when your body is freaking out on a regular basis from rigorous physical stress, even if it is eustress. Try adding a tablespoon of softened coconut oil to fruit smoothies. It'll improve the flavor, you'll stay full longer, and your coat will be shiny and glossy.

I tried kimchi for the first time last week and decided to stick with sauerkraut. Maybe I got hold of a bad recipe, don't know. Do you make your own?

Totally, baby herc! Cold-pressed coconut oil is one of the most important things in my diet. If i didn't have those healthy fats supporting my hormone levels I would just burn out and be a fat lump of crap. Does it blend well into a smoothie? I have never tried that but I don't have a blender anymore to try it.

I do make my own kimchi, sauerkraut, sauerruben, soured beets etc. All ingredients come from my garden and are 100% organic. If you make your own you can play around with the ingredients as you like, I consider kimchi my secret weapon against colds, flu and bugs. After reading 'Wild Fermentation' By Sandor Katz I have been on a massive buzz for fermentation, it is such a cool thing to play around with and makes all plant foods that much more nutritious and interesting.

How are you so big with only working out 2 days a week and doing full body?

Sometimes "more" is not necessarily "better". I'm doing HST right now which basically requires me to do a full body work out 3x's per week (Mon, Wed, Fri). I could tailor it to doing full body only 2x's per week and still get good results, or I could split between upper and lower body instead of fully body (eg upper in AM/lower in PM) on a given day. Still yet I could do upper on Mon and lower on another day of the week. You can even split upper into morning/evening to get more sets in, etc, etc.

You don't have to work out 6x's per week to gain consistent muscle. But it is the preference of a lot of folks these days partly because I think it keeps your metabolism racing.

How are you so big with only working out 2 days a week and doing full body?

Sometimes "more" is not necessarily "better". I'm doing HST right now which basically requires me to do a full body work out 3x's per week (Mon, Wed, Fri). I could tailor it to doing full body only 2x's per week and still get good results, or I could split between upper and lower body instead of fully body (eg upper in AM/lower in PM) on a given day. Still yet I could do upper on Mon and lower on another day of the week. You can even split upper into morning/evening to get more sets in, etc, etc.

You don't have to work out 6x's per week to gain consistent muscle. But it is the preference of a lot of folks these days partly because I think it keeps your metabolism racing.

I used to do full body workouts every time I went to the gym, I'm a fan of them. I do splits between upper and lower now, but I was under the impression that full body is good for toning, not for building?

Bodybuilding is an art, your body is the canvas, weights are your brush and nutrition is your paint. We all have the ability to turn a self portrait into a masterpiece.

Cown wrote:I used to do full body workouts every time I went to the gym, I'm a fan of them. I do splits between upper and lower now, but I was under the impression that full body is good for toning, not for building?

As long as you have the CNS capacity and energy levels to endure a full body work out at least more than once a week, there's nothing to keep you from building muscle just like any other program, given diet and rest/sleep are in check.

The toning vs building aspect lies within how many reps you do per exercise. I never stray from the 15-3 rep range, as that's where the building is for me, with upper reps more for toning and lower more for strength. 5 rep range is the "magic pill" for me, yet has a drawback as my joints and ligaments begin to suffer after a while, which sends me back to the 15-10 rep range for a while.

This is why HST is so great for me because it incorporates all these factors in the basics of the program.

An INTENSE full body work out two days in a row is not going to be possible for most people. I have to make compromises every week. For example, one week I will sacrifice doing any hard back work for going hard with squats. Sometimes I will sacrifice both just to get a kick out of doing both. Sometimes I will blast at leg training and be so weak the next day i will not be able to spark up some bicep curls!